Horkheimer & Adorno Featuring Holiday Knockoffs

        The holiday season so far this year has reminded me of Horkheimer and Adorno, as they said that “mechanically differentiated products are ultimately all the same” (Horkheimer & Adorno 43). While we perceive that some brand name items are “better” than others, ultimately all similar products have the same function. We are just told that one pair of shoes is more valuable than the other because of the brand name behind it, but when we go to wear those shoes, they function the same as any other shoe. Horkheimer and Adorno also talk about the standardized forms; everything is so similar now that we can manufacture goods on such a large scale, and brand-name items are no different from their department store-brand counterparts. “Knockoff” items are an interesting concept, because they operate on the notion that a “fake” brand-name item is just as good as a real one; nothing really differentiates them because they both have the same brand-name label. Knockoff items are also interesting because many people who buy them believe that they are more intelligent than those who buy the “real thing,” which may be true, as they are spending less money on a product that has the same function. However, these people are still feeding into the hype of the brand-name, as they are buying something that has that label on it and contributing to the influence of the brand, and to the overall sameness and uniformity of the market.
        Horkheimer and Adorno argue that the lack of diversity in our products is a negative thing, and I agree. The similarity in the products that we consume in the culture industry is concerning, as everything seems to be a copy of something else. Horkheimer and Adorno talk about how these standardized froms were originally taken from the consumers’ needs, but they are now what is given to us by the culture industry; the culture industry tells us what products we want and need. This is why an expensive designer bag is more desirable than a knockoff of the same quality; we are told that it is better when it really isn’t. We are fooled into thinking that the brand-name purse is more glamorous than one that costs $39 and can be found at Target, but that looks exactly the same. The culture industry dictates what is desirable and what is not, which allows for some designers to gain influence, fame and money while others make a fraction of that amount because their products are not considered to be as desirable.